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GSU's Russell
earns award

GSU’s Russell

earns award

STATESBORO — Georgia Southern senior defensive tackle Brent Russell was named the 2012 recipient of the Elite Defensive Tackle Award by College Football Performance Awards.

Russell helped lead the Eagles to their third-straight semifinal appearance and finished his career as the team’s all-time leader in career sacks after recording his 25th in his final game at North Dakota State. The three-year All-American finished the 2012 season with 44 tackles, 4.5 sacks and 8.5 tackles for loss.

The Comer native was also named a first-team FCS All-American by The Sports Network and was a consensus first-team All-Southern Conference selection earlier this year.

The goal of the College Football Performance Awards (CFPA) is to provide the most scientifically rigorous conferments in college football. CFPA recognizes weekly, annual, and multi-season (career) award recipients — selected based upon objective scientific rankings of the extent individual players increase the overall effectiveness of their teams.

Nadal to miss

Australian Open

BARCELONA, Spain — Just when Rafael Nadal had recovered from a knee injury, a stomach virus has delayed his return to tennis by a couple of months.

Nadal announced Friday he will miss next month’s Australian Open and probably won’t play again until the end of February. The Spaniard said he needs time to recover from the virus that already prevented him from coming back this week at Abu Dhabi.

Nadal has been sidelined since June with a knee injury, which forced him to miss the London Olympics and U.S. Open.

He had planned to rejoin the ATP tour at the Qatar Open in Doha next month before the Jan. 14-27 Australian Open, but pulled out of both.

“We just hope he gets better quickly and we see him back on the tour as soon as possible,” Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley said. “Tennis fans across the world have been missing him.”

NHLNHL

NEW YORK — The NHL made a new offer to the players’ association, hoping to spark talks toward ending the long lockout and saving the hockey season.

Deputy commissioner Bill Daly said Friday the league presented its proposal Thursday and was waiting for a response. The sides haven’t met in person since a second round of talks with a federal mediator broke down Dec. 13.

The lockout has reached its 104th day, and the NHL said it doesn’t want a season of less than 48 games. That means a deal would need to be reached mid-January.

“We delivered to the union a new, comprehensive proposal for a successor CBA,” Daly said in a statement Friday. “We are not prepared to discuss the details of our proposal at this time. We are hopeful that once the union’s staff and negotiating committee have had an opportunity to thoroughly review and consider our new proposal, they will share it with the players. We want to be back on the ice as soon as possible.”